Hot and Wet in The Hague

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Well, I think it’s the first time I’ve seen rain during the day since England and I ran back to the hostel from town so I was hot and wet.. what did you think I was talking about?! 😛

Wished Mum a happy birthday.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!

Tried to call Tam but she’s a busy one that one, well, nothing productive, off at the movies my spy told me.. sheesh! 😛

Rode around for a couple of hours. Found a nice little forested area which would be heaps better on a bike that wasn’t slicked and fully loaded. Continued on to the beach as well which was nice. Noticed some very interesting sculptures here (and quite a few in town, for that matter). Ended up with a massive 30k’s with a uci record-breaking average in the realm of 13kph! Look out Lance!

Back to the hostel and after a nap walked into town. (Sidenote: Me, napping.. WTF is happening to me?!?!). Late lunch of strange bread and even stranger cheese. I tried to find the oldest Gouda I could. Gouda is a town near here, famous for that cheese. It could be worse – they could be famous for the worst psycho killing spree or something. Sat down and watched skater dudes do their thing. Just for the record, Vanilla Coke is cheaper here than normal Coke. Also for the record, caramel stroopwaffels aren’t that good.

Tam called just as I walked into some seriously loud music.. I ran away and chatted to her quickly because I’m sure she’s now using stolen credit cards to support her phone habit..

The music turned out to be an awesome marching band. Six or so drummers and maybe four brass players. The were VERY loud and VERY good to listen to and watch. I followed them down the street, taking some video and pics. They stopped in the open area in town where nets were setup for baseball practise (the whole thing was aimed at promoting baseball). Then out came the cheerleaders for some dancing! Yay for free entertainment! While everyone was oggling the cheerleaders I chatted to one of the drummers (okay, I watched the whole routine before chatting to one of the drummers.. it’s only fair, right? :P). He’d been playing with the others for six years! No wonder they were so good. Their timing was very impressive. He was getting tired of it though after six years and wanted to focus on his Thai Boxing. Pity, coz I think the drumming is heaps cooler.. where are my bongos? He said Rotterdam’s Carnivale in July is massive, with heaps more bands and suchlike.

I went looking for shoes sized >46 but found nothing. Came back for the bands second set. This is when it started raining. I dashed back to the hostel after they’d finished. Don’t know why coz I went straight out again.. I’m an idiot.

Think I might head for Haarlem tomorrow. It has a cool name. Amsterdam might have something interesting on during the weekend but I don’t know.. I’m also wondering how I might make it back to France for Le Tour.. do I “waste” a lot of time and ride back or do I try and leave my bike somewhere and train back for a day or two?

6 thoughts on “Hot and Wet in The Hague”

  1. I would try and park the bike in a locker and take the train back (assuming you can afford it). Maybe to Grenoble (i think theres a start) and from there find a mountain stage to go to? Dont be surprised that everything is booked solid with the Tour around though. I can thoroughly recommend the comfortable Grenoble train station when you want to crash though. Just dont try and sleep near any "Lance fans".

    Or maybe try work out a way to ride or train make to a stage in Germany.

  2. Your source is incorrect. I was watching a DVD. Do explain more about those statues! The credit cards aren’t stolen, I’ve just upped my limits. Did you take lots of photos of those cheerleaders? "Gimme a H! Gimme an I! Gimme a P! Gimme a P! Gimme a Y!"

  3. I like the statues that move! Agree with Oely re take train to some stage along le Tour. Great to hear from you last night,ta muchly. You can take the cat back though-I’ve 3 opened tins of cat food and he’s not eating any of them! Very affectionate though!! now. You take after dad, he was drumming at the Quiet Man on Sunday! Great time.

  4. Tam, you obviously didn’t do Cheer Leading due to a lack of flair.

    Try THIS!

    "Gimme a H, Gimme and I, Gimme a P, P, Y! What does it spell? HIPPY!!! Yay!"

    BRING IT AWWWWWWN!

  5. Ah… decisions decisions… you could just sit in the one spot and watch i ton telly. Better view I hear.

  6. I walked past a dudes cabin at the campsite last night and saw a sprint finish! Typical! SBS gets live coverage and I end up in Europe unable to watch the frickin thing!! Grrr!! I’m totally ignoring it so that when it’s all run and won I can get a DVD of the lot and have my own Tdf.. delayed by a year or so..

    There’s some shoddy vid/pics of the marching band and cheerleaders – check my recent blog posts.

    You’re both wrong: Gimme a B! Gimme a E! Gimme a E! Gimme an R! What’s it spell? We don’t know, just pour! Yay!

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